Читать книгу Hawaii Trails. Walks Strolls and Treks on the Big Island онлайн

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Hawaii’s mild climate is determined largely by its tropical location and also by the northeast trade winds that sweep across it. The northeast trade winds—so-called because sea captains took advantage of them on their trade routes—are dependable, steady winds that blow from the northeast across the thousands of miles of open sea that separate the Hawaiian Islands from the continents. They are responsible for keeping the temperature and the humidity moderate. Since they are the prevailing winds in this area, the side of the island that faces them is called the “windward” side. The opposite side of the island is the opposite of windward; in nautical terms, “leeward.”

Sometimes the trade winds fail and are replaced by “kona” winds coming from the south. “Kona” means “leeward,” because it’s the leeward side of the island that more or less faces these occasional winds. Kona winds bring hot, sticky air. Fortunately, they are rare in summer, when they would be really unpleasant, and occur mostly in winter, when the lower overall temperatures moderate their effect. Kona storms are subtropical low-pressure systems that occur in winter, move in from the south, and can cause serious damage. There is apparently no pattern to them; in some years, they do not occur at all, but in others they occur every few weeks.